China hosts El Salvador as nations cut ties with Taiwan

BEIJING â" Salvadoran President Salvador Sanchez Ceren is due to meet with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, just months after the small Central American nation broke diplomatic ties with Taiwan.

The state visit comes one day before that of the Dominican president, whose country also switched relations from Taiwan to China this year.

El Salvador and the Dominican Republic are among a growing number of states that have cut ties with Taiwan to resume or establish relations with China, which considers the self-governing island democracy to be part of its territory.

Now only 17 mainly small, developing countries recognize Taiwan as a sovereign nation.

Taiwan split from mainland China amid a civil war in 1949, and Beijing has been steadily ratcheting up diplomatic and economic pressure in recent years.

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